About to drop £££ on a garden office, what mistakes to avoid?

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

That's what was initially planned, and the electrician supplied the TP links for it, but when we tried it it just lost virtually all signal strength. We live in a rural area without super-high-speed fibre, so the best I get in the house is only about 70Mbps, and half that when on the work VPN. Plus we have an extension that is on a different junction, and then the studio is spurred off of that - so when we tried the powerline solution the best we could do was an unreliable 1.5Mbps, which isn't good enough for me to work out there.

Well I am not sure I understand what went wrong.
I also have about 70mbps tops these days but only lose about 10mbps to the shed down the plug.
I don't know what different junction and spur mean, but mine comes from the main box in house and runs out to a new box with a new junction box in the garden shed. Router is in the house just plugged in a random room, it's not on the same loop. I don't 'think' that is any different to your set up is it?
I generally get about 30-60mbps in the shed, but more than anything else that just depends of what I am getting from the router in the house.

The plug in my office also has a LAN connection, and though the speeds don't appear to improve, stability does.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I don't know what different junction and spur mean, but mine comes from the main box in house and runs out to a new box with a new junction box in the garden shed. Router is in the house just plugged in a random room, it's not on the same loop. I don't 'think' that is any different to your set up is it?

It is, a little. We had an extension built a few years ago, and it's on a different circuit than the main (120 year old) house - so we have a separate fuse box and it's isolated from the main house power to a certain extent (although obviously still connected somehow). The router is in the main house, so the powerline adapter is plugged into that loop, but the studio is connected to the extension's mains - so I think that's why it isn't quite working as intended. I had the same problem when I tried using TP-links to create a wired connection for my PC in the extension - they worked most of the time, but were a bit flaky at times.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Garden studios.

Depends. You can get ones that are basically a fancy shed from about 4 grand up to 10+. Or the ones that are a proper steel-framed building with insulation, double-glazing and aircon are about 15 or so.

 

[teuchter]

Depends. You can get ones that are basically a fancy shed from about 4 grand up to 10+. Or the ones that are a proper steel-framed building with insulation, double-glazing and aircon are about 15 or so.

Certainly a lot cheaper than doing a conventionally built rear extension or loft conversion. Not surprised they are becoming popular.

Did they give you u-values for the insulated walls, roof etc?

I've been a bit sceptical about these garden rooms because they basically let you get through a kind of loophole that allows you to do something with much lower levels of insulation than you'd be allowed in a conventional build. But it seems like people are cottoning on to the fact that aside from energy efficiency concerns it's worth properly insulating just from a comfort point of view.

I don't actually see why they shouldn't have to meet the same standards that any other building does. It's clear they are increasingly going to be used for substantial portions of the day as more people do WFH.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

It is, a little. We had an extension built a few years ago, and it's on a different circuit than the main (120 year old) house - so we have a separate fuse box and it's isolated from the main house power to a certain extent (although obviously still connected somehow). The router is in the main house, so the powerline adapter is plugged into that loop, but the studio is connected to the extension's mains - so I think that's why it isn't quite working as intended. I had the same problem when I tried using TP-links to create a wired connection for my PC in the extension - they worked most of the time, but were a bit flaky at times.

Well that does sound very similar to my house except I don't have an extension. Armoured cable down the garden to the shed with a new fusebox.

LAN from the router goes straight into the the plug socket sending the signal (rather than it picking up the wifi) same the other end into my computer.
The only thing I did just find out that was interesting. I just submitted a speed test for a new remote job and was getting about 10 or 15 mbps lower than I usually would. Turns out it was just down to me putting an extension cable in to run a printer at the same time as the router and the sending plug. I wonder if I had the receiver set straight in the wall instead of also being on an extension cable I would save another 10mbps?

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

. . . . it did indeed. I have improved by 20mbps (30-50) by plugging both ends directly into the wall sockets instead of extension cables into wall sockets. That's quite surprising.

 

[Elpenor]

On the power line adaptor I bought as my router socket is upstairs and my BT tv box downstairs it says to use it directly into the wall

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

On the power line adaptor I bought as my router socket is upstairs and my BT tv box downstairs it says to use it directly into the wall

Yeah, it probably says that on mine somewhere too. I just ignored/forgot.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

. . . . it did indeed. I have improved by 20mbps (30-50) by plugging both ends directly into the wall sockets instead of extension cables into wall sockets. That's quite surprising.

Yeah, there's all kinds of things that can interfere with the signal - plugging it into the wall versus an extension, or having other stuff plugged in next to it that are doing certain things.

 

[AlexanderMartin]

After almost two-and-a-half years of working from home in what is effectively the entrance hall to the house, with interruptions from the Amazon man and Mrs BB wandering back and forth doing housework, I've decided I fancy a garden office pod as a dedicated work space. Having looked around at the options, from "basically a fancy shed" through to expensive steel-and-glass architecture, it seems like the higher end option is going to be best for offering decent insulation and construction to keep it warm in winter and cool in the summer. I found a company that offers units with feet so we don't have to spend a lot on getting a concrete base laid, and assuming the internet-over-powerline system works as intended it should suit my needs pretty well.

Anyone with experience of garden office working have any words of wisdom, or recommendations for what to avoid/look out for?

I have a garden office and have found it to be best to park the car away from the shed and put a gate between the two. This way it is mostly private and I can go in through the back door. I have a small shed with a desk and a potting bench in it and it is very nice to be out of the house when the weather is nice. Make sure to get a backyard shed that has good doors and windows - otherwise you will be fighting with cold and hot, depending on which direction the door is facing. And make sure that the shed is not attached to the house, by all means include it into the garden design but make it stand out as a separate building.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Best first post in years